To public transport only through the front door. Estuaries change the rules for the maladaptive

From the New Year, everyone will have to prove themselves to the driver with a ticket or check in electronically. Otherwise, the driver will exclude passengers without a valid ticket from the transport. Until now, people only had to get on buses “before” and trolleybuses from 8 p.m.

“This step is a continuation of the previously introduced measures where all buses board only through the front door. The mentioned model has proven itself for us, which is why we want to introduce it in trolleybuses as well,” explained Simona Mohacsi, director of the Transport Company of the city of Ústí nad Labem.

According to company spokeswoman Jana Dvořáková, the transport company also focused on trolleybus line number 51, which serves the Skalka housing estate. Some locals complained that the troublesome passengers had moved there. Dvořáková said that the inspectors on the line did not notice an increased number of passengers without valid travel documents.

“The safety of public transport, as well as the cleanliness of vehicles, is a priority for us. At the same time, we want to protect the health of our drivers,” Mohacsi added, adding that transport assistants will also start driving more on the lines in the city from the New Year.

“Passengers will have to get used to being able to meet them at any time on any trolleybus or bus line,” the director noted.

Now the transport assistants use the aforementioned bus line number 57, which commutes on a roughly two-kilometer section between the Květ department store in the Neštěmice district and the Mojžíř ghetto. The transport company introduced the line due to the large number of non-payers, the inappropriate behavior of some passengers and the frequent assaults of drivers. Then they refused to go here. Previously, line number 57 was a trolleybus and ran from Mojžíř across the entire city to the Klíše district.

“Nothing will change on this line, its operation will continue to be maintained. The situation here has calmed down a lot. Now we have no problem occupying the line. Drivers stopped being afraid to drive here. Assaults on drivers or threats by passengers have practically disappeared,” Mohacsi mentioned.

According to the director, only one minor conflict has occurred since the end of July, when the “special” bus line to Mojžíř started running. “It is also important that the fare collection has doubled,” said the director.

Currently, the transport company employs ten transport assistants, and plans to hire more of them in the coming months. “We need them to travel on all lines that are assessed as problematic. It is no longer just the route to Mojžíř or to the excluded location in Předlice, but we are registering problems throughout the city,” Mohacsi explained, adding that a few days ago, for example, a driver was attacked on the line heading to the housing estate on Severní Terase, and on Saturday to another route to attack the controller.

Boarding through the front door will not be mandatory at the busiest stops in the city center, during the day it will still be possible to board the car through any door. This will apply to the stops from Poliklinika to Mírové náměstí, respectively Hlavní nádraží.

“It will now be possible to board buses at these stops not only through the front door, but also to unify and simplify boarding within the entire public transport system,” explained Simona Mohacsi.

Mandatory entry through the front door will be introduced at these stops for both buses and trolleybuses from 6 p.m. onwards.

Passengers with prams or people with reduced mobility will also be able to use additional doors to board without restrictions, as is the case at present.

“For passengers boarding only through the front door will not be a radical change, this is how it was done in the past,” added Mohacsi.